Helen Leathard

Helen L. Leathard is Professor Emerita of Healing Science and Pharmacology at the University of Cumbria, Honorary Fellow of the British Pharmacological Society, and Honorary Associate Priest with Permission to Officiate in Blackburn Diocese. She has been involved with Holy Rood House for more than 25 years, originally as a consultant to the Centre for the Study of Theology and Health and then more generally. After researching and teaching in London medical schools, she moved back to her northern roots, for family reasons, in 1992. At St Martin’s College, Lancaster, she taught biomedical sciences to nurses and other healthcare professionals, and evolved her research interests to explore holistic health and Christian spiritual healing, supported by taking an MA in Theology and synergizing with her nascent Anglican Reader Ministry. Also, as Director of the Graduate School, she led a generic PhD programme (under the auspices of Lancaster University) as the college prepared for university status. As a long-standing member of the Council of the Guild of St Raphael, she edited their journal, Chrism, from 2009 to 2015, developing their publishing collaboration with Holy Rood House. She helped steer the reuniting of that Guild with the Guild of Health, serving as a trustee until 2020.